Feniton History Group held the 60th meeting


It was good to be back together again, thank you all for an interesting evening.
We confirmed the details of the talk by Colin Harris on the 16th Sept.
We had a discussion on how easy it is to lose saved data as things like floppy disk slots are not available on the modern computers.

Brenda is attending a seminar on schools 1844 to 1864 and asked if we have any notes that cover those years.

Jenny told us she has been working on her Notley ancestors from Cerne Abbass, one Thomas Notley went to America where he became a Judge in the 1600s.

Geoff related his work as a volunteer in the Devon Record Office. He has been cleaning and listing papers from the Payne family of Uffculm. It is a huge task and painstaking using a sponge to remove years of dust.

David told us about his research with Roger into the River Otter area at Fenny Bridges. This research confirms the name of the Roman Road in the area:

“The Roman Road at Fenny Bridges is usually considered to be the most south westerly end of the Fosse way from Exeter to Lincoln. The Fosse Way represents the first Roman/British 'frontier' line established in the first few years of the Roman take over. 'Street Pol'(meaning the pool by the road) is a marker in the Anglo Saxon boundary clause from Ottery's 1061 Charter. It refers to quite a large pool in the river Otter located on the south of the old A30 at Fenny Bridges. It was still there in the 1840s and is recorded on Ottery's tithe map (clip attached). It had disappeared by the time of the first large scale OS maps in the 1880s although the straight bank on the southern edge of the pool is still easy to spot.”

They have also found various records detailing the bridges, floods and lack of repairs. A trust of ten men was set up to correct the problems:

Hon. William Wells Addington, Sir Edmund Lansdown Prideaux, Bart. Sir John Kennaway, John ? Oliphant Esq., William Porter Esq., Charles Gordon Esq, Edward Simcoe Drewe Esq.,William Rennell Coleridge Esq.,             Daniel Bishop Davy Esq. and Rev John Huyshe this is dated 19 Sep 1750.

Other local names are Skinner, Northcote, Wright,  Kirkham and Pring.

David also noted that the name of   the stream running through Feniton was called the Fine and the name of the village derived from this phonically as the V and F sound very similar.

I omitted to say at the meeting that Jenny and I have put together a general history of the village to be used as part of the Neighbourhood Plan. I attach my document, which may well become an aid to the writing of our village book?

Next meeting is booked in the Nog Inn on  1st October at 8pm. Looking forward to seeing you all on the 16th Sept for Colin’s talk, just some help needed with teas and the door. Thank you.

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